


help from afar

by SweetFanfics



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, but steve helps, tony's got some 'writers block'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 16:24:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20567351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/SweetFanfics
Summary: Anonymous asked: something to do with Tony's draftsmanship in design vs. Steve's pen and ink drawings! Maybe Steve drew over something Tony did and gave him inspiration that solved a problem he was having, maybe Tony and Steve bicker over the artistic value of perspective vs ignoring it, the well is deep in this one.





	help from afar

“But it’s _crap,” _Tony complains as Pepper clicks through the folders. The man hovers behind her desk, pacing back and forth as he talks. “I started and scraped the designs five times before giving up! Nothing I made was good enough.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t _that _bad,” Pepper reassures him as she double clicks the appropriate folder. Oof. Wow. It’s not five redesigns, it’s closer to… no. It’s twenty two. No wonder Tony got frustrated with this project and dropped it like a hot potato. She begins opening the designs, starting from the first draft. “Tell me what’s wrong here.”

They take the next fifteen minutes going through each draft. She asks what’s wrong, Tony lists his reasons, she asks didn’t the rest of the R&D team have some solution to offer, and they move onto the next draft which fixes the old problem but raises a new one.

This is why she hates product development if she’s honest. It’s one problem after another. Sure fundamentally it’s not that different from being Tony’s PA where she was always putting out one fire after another, but that hardly required the same amount of creativity. She was an old hat at managing Tony’s problems after a while. This? It’s supposed to be the most fuel efficient car ever produced but so far it’s just been the biggest pain in all of their collective ass.

As she opens the last drafts, Pepper’s wondering if maybe they should push the release date to never. Or at least maybe another year or two. Sure the market won’t be happy and their stock might take a small hit but it’s better than putting out a shoddy product. The file opens and she blinks in surprise. Tony's hand drops on the back of her chair as he leans in to ask, "Is that the latest iteration?"

Tony’s a meticulous draftsman with clean lines and lots of open space to scribble in detailed notes. He always uses blue lines, 0.5 weight. And the designs open right now? Have sleek weighted black lines inked over the car design, transforming it from a thick clunker into a sleek vehicle. Pepper hides Tony’s lines and sucks in a breath with Tony as only the black ink remains. 

“What the-” Tony starts, leaning in so deep he’s almost nose-to-nose with her screen. “These aren’t…Are these my designs?”

Pepper checks the file details. “Says so.”

But this isn’t Tony’s style. The notes are blocky. Some of the insides have been rearranged in way that Pepper _knows _Tony would never do because it’s not his style or preference. And there’s the shape of the vehicle itself, which, which it’s a style Tony likes, he’s never been able to achieve it in his designs for some reason.

“But I don’t remember… I’d never… Oh.” Tony breathes out. “_Oh_ that _brilliant asshole_.”

Pepper swivels in her seat to look at Tony, who has a familiar manic gleam in his eyes. “Mind sharing with the rest of the class?”

“Steve. He knew this project was being a pain in my ass. I didn’t realize he’d…” 

Pepper waits for a lengthier explanation but doesn’t get it. A touch frustrated she asks, “Realize he’d what?”

Unfortunately, Tony doesn’t seem to be listening. He’s reaching over to close the file. He quickly shoots the email off to the R&D department, presses a hard kiss to her head, and tells her, “I’m gonna grab Steve and have him meet with the R&D people. I think he just cracked our biggest problem. We might be able to scrap through to meet the Q1 deadline with this.”

It takes her half a second to gather her bearings and she yells at Tony's back, "Make him sign an NDA if he's going to be working on our products!"

"You don't trust Captain America?" Tony teases, turning on his heel to face her even as he keeps heading towards the door. He's going to bump into something the way he keeps walking backwards like that and then Pepper'll smugly tell him, I told you so. 

But for now, she rolls her eyes and says, "No. NDA or you can't bring him in Tony."

"Might as well pay him a consultancy fee if we're going that way."

"Fine, fine." She flicks her fingers at the man. "Tell Joanie to get both contracts ready for Steve to sign."


End file.
